The Marauder's Map
by Lilianna1
Summary: How did Fred and George come across the Marauder's map. Finnaly the answer.


The Marauder's Map  
  
"Now Lee, your job is to distract Snape and Jordan long enough so that we can sneak the numbweed into his cauldron without anyone noticing, think you can do that?" Fred said anxiously glancing back and forth from Lee to Snape who was berating one of the other Gryffindors for the way they sliced their dandelion roots.  
  
Lee nodded as he looked down at the beetles he was crushing so that Snape didn't realize that they were planning something.  
  
"That shouldn't be hard, all I have to do is create a cauldron meltdown," He smirked, "and I can usually do that without trying."  
  
"Right," Fred said and gave the thumbs up to George across the room who was sitting near Jordon with Katie Bell so as not to arise suspicion that the two of them were plotting something. George nodded back and pointed to the bag of numbweed that was in his pocket.  
  
"Alright then." Fred nodded at Lee. "Go."  
  
A few moments later there was a large BOOM as the contents of Lee's cauldron splashed out all over the floor.  
  
"Jordon what are you doing?" Snape snapped from his desk at the front of the room and raising his wand cleaned the potion from the floor and rounded on Lee. "What did you do?" He said sneering. The Slytherin students snickered and Fred watched as George dumped the contents of his bag into Jason's cauldron, now all they had to do was wait.  
  
"I don't know sir." Lee said dead serious and keeping any hint of laughter out of his voice. "I guess I just made the potion wrong."  
  
"That's five points for your inability to make a simple draught," Snape walked back to his desk where he went about tormenting people for the slightest mistakes in their potions.  
  
A few moments later three large green bubbles rose up from Jason's cauldron. He was too busy talking to a rather ugly slytherin girl to notice. They slowly rose over the quiet class and began to circle around Snape's head.  
  
Alicia looked up and giggled slightly. George shushed her,  
  
"Shh, he'll notice something." Fred, George, Lee and Alica's faces were all fixed on the three bubbles above Snape's head and no one else in the class seemed to notice.  
  
"SPLASH" The largest bubble burst on Snape's head. He erupted.  
  
"Weasely and Weasely in my Office NOW!" Fred and George obediently got out of their seats and followed Snape into his office. He was still unawares that there were two more bubbles still over his head.  
  
"Never in all my years have two students been more disrespectful!" Fred and George looked at each other, they knew that there was no way Snape could prove that they had dome anything, he should blame it on Jordon because it was his cauldron.  
  
"Sir I have no idea what you are talking about." Fred said innocently looking up as Snape, "What are se supposed to have done?" Snape looked them in the eyes and snarled,  
  
"You out the numbweed into Jason's cauldron! Don't lie and say that you didn't." He fixed them with a menacing stare, it almost made Fred laugh.  
  
"With all do respect Sir, we still have no idea what you are talking about, perhaps you should ask Jason about it." Snape was livid. He stared down at the twins with cold dark eyes. Although he could tell that Snape was beginning to reconsider. He knew that there was no way to prove Fred and George were responsible.  
  
He looked as if he was about to relent, when PLOP! The last buble that he hadn't noticed fell on his head and onto the desk. Suddenly the desk erupted in green goo that coated the entire office. Snape was livid.  
  
"Detention, both of you! And twenty points from Gryffindor!" Fred and George knew that now was not the best time to argue about proof because they would most likely end up hexed into the ground if they said anything. They both nodded and filed out the room.  
  
***  
  
After dinner that night Fred and George got up from the Gryffindor table and gloomily walked down towards the potions classroom.  
  
"It's not as if we did anything wrong." George said breaking the silence, "We were only trying to instruct him on good hygene."  
  
"Exactly! And he should be proud that we took such initiative, we did figure out how to turn a first year pain killing draught to fourth year cleaning bubbles." George nodded enthusiastically,  
  
"He should be giving us points, not taking them away, just because his hair happened to be the dirtiest thing in the room."  
  
At this they both started laughing at the memory of the large green bubbles circling Snape's head.  
  
"This is probably the only time he had been clean in his entire life." They both had to stop walking while they caught their breath from laughing too hard. George looked down at this watch,  
  
"We had better hurry, unless he takes more points off." They hurried the last few meters to the enterence of Snape's office. Where they knocked on the door."  
  
"Enter." They walked into the room, which was still covered in green goo except for a small space on Snape's desk where he was writing something. When they entered the room he hastily rolled it up and put it in a drawer. He then locked the drawer with a spell that the twins didn't know.  
  
"You will be cleaning this room until it was spotless, without magic." Snape handed each of them a small brush and left the room. They exploded with laughter.  
  
"There is still green stuff on his robes!"  
  
"And his hair was CLEAN!" Every time they stopped laughing out of the utter tedium caused by scrubbing the room one of them just had to remark about the general cleanliness of Snape's appearance and it would start them off again.  
  
"You know," George said as he was attempting to clean the engraved snakes on the legs of the desk legs. "We really should try to sneak into another class so we can't be blamed for what happens.  
  
"That won't stop him." He'll come up to Gryffindor Tower and drag us back down here evidence or not.  
  
"Now at least he's clean enough to be allowed into Gryffindor Tower." They howled with laughter.  
  
It was three hours later when Snape came back to his office. The walls were gleaming and clean, but Snape still made a big show of making sure that it was perfectly clean. After a few moments of search Snape decided it was satisfactory and allowed them to leave.  
  
Once they were out of earshot from Snape's office they completely burst. There was still green slime on his robes.  
  
"I can't believe Snape thought that pathetic detention would stop us from messing about in his class" George said and Fred nodded.  
  
"He never was very smart that one."  
  
"His face was so funny when we put the numbweed in Jason's cauldron!"  
  
"I still can't believe that his hair is CLEAN!"  
  
"We so have to tell Angelina she will totally die." Fred paused for a moment, "Where was she anyway? Doesn't she usually sit with Katie?" George nodded.  
  
"She was in the back helping Mick, his potions usually turn out worse then Jason's did today."  
  
"She'll wish she had seen it, we should have made sure that she was watching."  
  
"Yeah," George agreed, "She would have loved it!"  
  
"I know!"  
  
"We have got to be the best pranksters that Hogwarts has ever seen."  
  
"We are completely up to no good."  
  
"Oy Fred, where are we?" Fred stopped walking for a moment and looked around at the unfamiliar paintings and suit of armor that he doubted he had ever seen before. That was odd he had only been here for a few months but he hadn't gotten lost since the first week.  
  
"I really have no idea, how'd we get here?"  
  
"I thought we were going towards Gryffindor tower but one of the staircases must have moved while we weren't paying attention."  
  
"Well let's just turn around and go the way we came." They turned around to see that the path they had just come from was a tapestry over a solid wall. "Alright this is just odd."  
  
"Come on then let's find a way out." After a few moments of walking they realized that they were in the same place they had been before, and after a few more they realized that there was no way out of their current position.  
  
"Alright George, let's think about this logically,"  
  
"Since when have you ever thought about anything logically?  
  
"Oh Bugger off, we need to get out of this bloody corridor."  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Right then, this is obviously some kind of spell so we have to figure out how to break it."  
  
"That or Snape found something better to punish us then a detention, entombment in the school."  
  
"Pleas I doubt that ugly git would think of it." The second Fred spoke the suit of armor stepped aside to reveal a pedestal with a piece of parchment paper sitting on it. Fred picked it up and looked at it. He passed it to George,  
  
"Write on me, what is that supposed to mean?"  
  
"Gee George I don't know, could it mean to write something on the paper?"  
  
"Funny Fred, you write something."  
  
"Alright," Fred took the paper and pulled a quill from his bag and scratched a word onto the paper.  
  
*Hello  
  
He watched the word sink into the paper and a something else appeared instead.  
  
**Hello, we are the Marauders who are you?  
  
Fred looked at George with raised eyebrows but George was still looking at the paper.  
  
*Fred and George Weasely  
  
The words again faded into the old parchment  
  
**How did you find this?  
  
Fred looked at George again who just shrugged, so he continued to write.  
  
*We took a wrong turn and ended up in this corridor  
  
**Who is Severus Snape?  
  
At this Fred gave a snort of laughter before writing,  
  
*An ugly git who doesn't understand a joke.  
  
** tap your wand to the paper and say "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."  
  
The paper then went blank and there was nothing for Fred to do but comply with the demands of the map so he pulled out his wand.  
  
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."  
  
The paper came alive, black ink lines snaked across the page to reveal.  
  
"It's a map." Said George incredulously looking at the page, "and there are little moving dots all along it," He looked closer, "Those dots are people."  
  
Fred looked down at the map, sure enough he picked out two little dots that said 'Fred Weasely' and 'George Weasely'  
  
"Hey that's not all," Fred said his eyes bugging as he noticed the wall that was holding them hostage. "It gives a spell to get us out of here, let me try it." He pointed his wand at the wall "Tridentis!"  
  
The tapestry rolled up and there was known no stone wall behind it.  
  
"Wicked." Fred nodded he rolled the map up and placed it carefully in his bag before leaving the corridor.  
  
***  
  
That night Fred and George forsaked their usual spot in the middle of everything to a quiet table in an alcove where no one would notice them. Fred pulled out the map and spread it across the table. It had gone blank again.  
  
"What should I do now?" He asked George, "It went blank."  
  
"Tap it and say the thing again stupid."  
  
"Alright, alright." Fred pulled out his wand and tapped the map, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." The lines snaked over the page again.  
  
"This is too cool." George said his eyes bugging as he looked at the map. "Where were we when we found it." Fred traced his finger along the map to the corridor they had found that afternoon.  
  
"There," He said pointing to the wall with the tiny word 'Tridentis" written next to it. "That isn't the only one," Fred realized, "There are tons of little spells written by different things in the school."  
  
"They look like secret passages," George whispered, "Some of them look like they go all the way to Hogsmeade, we could sneak out to the three broomsticks for butterbeer."  
  
"We could go to honeydukes."  
  
"Percy would kill us if he knew."  
  
"It's only his second year and he already thinks he's a prefect."  
  
"Speaking of," George gestured his hand over to where Percy was sitting in a chair by the fire his head buried in a book that looked larger then he was, "We'd better not do anything to set him off to what we are doing."  
  
"George, what are we doing?" Fred asked dropping his voice even lower as he looked over the map at the their two dots that were in one of the corners of the Gryffindor common room, "This is one of those things isn't it? That dad warned against."  
  
This was the first time that George had thought of that. His father had gone through the same speech with them as he had with Bill, Charlie, and Percy before, don't trust anything that you can't see where it keeps it's brain.  
  
"George, I can't see its brain."  
  
"Dad only told us that because it could be a dark object or something, how could this benign map be a dark object."  
  
"You're right George," Fred said sarcastically and rolled his eyes, "How could a magical map that tells you where everyone in school is be a dark object."  
  
"Good point." George whispered looking down at the map with new appreciation, "Well what are we going to do with it?"  
  
"If it is a dark object we should tell someone." Fred glanced around the room suspiciously, only to find that no one looked remotely interested in what they were doing. The common room was as cheerful as always almost eerily so.  
  
"I don't think it is a dark object." Fred said looking down at the map again. "Look in the corner, It says 'The Marauders: Moony Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs,' those seem like nicknames to me not some dark cult." Fred nodded; he was thinking the same thing.  
  
"I agree, but then what is it?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Well let's think about this logically,"  
  
"Fred you have to stop saying that or people really will be suspicious."  
  
"Alright, alright."  
  
"Good so why is this thing telling us how to work it and not anyone else, It couldn't have just been put there or we would have know something about the people who put it there." Fred nodded but his eyes were still on the little dots on the maps.  
  
"I doubt that even many of the teachers know where all these passages are. That one," He said pointing to one that seemed to lead to the shrieking shack in Hogsmede, "Looks like it starts right under the womping willow."  
  
"You would have to be insane to try and go through that, there would be nothing left of you when you were done." But Fred had gone back to looking at the writing in the corner of the page.  
  
"I think they were students." He realized looking at the names, "I mean they called themselves the Marauders what else could they be?"  
  
"And look at that," Said George pointing to the opposite corner of the page, that's the Gryffindor crest, only it looks slightly different from ours, like it was older or something."  
  
"They must have been the best pranksters Hogwarts has ever seen to be able to find all these passages and put this map together without ever getting caught."  
  
"We don't know if they ever got caught, we don't even know what their real names are." Fred thought for a moment that was true; they really didn't know anything about 'The Marauders'  
  
"But they couldn't have been caught, the map would have been confiscated."  
  
"That is a good point." George looked back at the Map thoughtfully, "I say we use it." Fred nodded,  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Fred!" The twins jumped and threw their books over the map, hoping that they hadn't been too conspicuous in the process. Angelina stood over them looking slightly suspicious at their slight panic.  
  
"What are you two doing?" She said with narrowed eyes glancing at the haphazard pile of books that now covered the table.  
  
"Charms homework," Fred offered innocently,  
  
"Right," George added "and next we're doing our potions essay." Angelina's suspicions hadn't been quenched a bit.  
  
"Alright, keep you secrets, anyway that's not what I came over here to ask you,"  
  
"And what did you come to ask?"  
  
"Exactly what did you do to Snape's office?" The twins broke down laughing, they had completely forgotten about that afternoon's potions class.  
  
"Well you see," Fred said, "Some numbweed accidentally fell into Jason's cauldron while the scarab beetles were simmering which caused large green cleaning bubbles to follow his head around because of it's high grease content." Angelina sniggered,  
  
"That still doesn't explain why his office got covered in a green film."  
  
"Oh that," George replied with a grin, "He really shouldn't leave potion ingredients out on his desk that might cause adverse affects when combined with healing bubbles."  
  
"So is that where you were after dinner, I asked Alicia and she said that you had just gotten up and disappeared."  
  
"Yup detention, scrubbing goo off of Snape's office, too bad we couldn't scrub the goo off his head, the ugly git."  
  
"You two are going to get yourselves expelled by the end of the year."  
  
"Nope, we'll just spend an abnormal amount of time in teacher's offices and serving detention, it's not like they can expel us for harmless pranks."  
  
"Ha." Angelina said and her eyes drifted back to the pile of books that were still on the table. "What are you working on?"  
  
"Angelina do we ever demand to know what you are working on, when you are obviously trying to keep to yourself."  
  
"Yes George, that is the only time that you ask me what I'm doing."  
  
"Good point Angelina," Fred said and he looked at George as if to say 'should we tell her?' George shook his head ever so slightly and Fred turned back to Angelina and continued talking.  
  
"Well if you must know, we're planning our revenge on Snape." It was partially true, this map would be the best way possible to get back at Snape.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"You see," said Greorge, "We could tell you, but then we would have to kill you." Angelina smiled and laughed.  
  
"Alright then, I value my life and am going to bed, I'll see you at flying in the morning." Angelina walked away and up the girl's staircase, when she was out of earshot Fred began to speak again.  
  
"Why couldn't we tell her?" George shook his head,  
  
"What if she didn't see it the way we do, I don't think that we should tell anyone this is our secret.  
  
"OK, but if there is someone who needs to know we can tell them right?"  
  
"Right." 


End file.
